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which overflows the banks & spreads itself for 5 miles or more in width, in many parts of Alabama. The rise is sudden & so rapid as to drive a current up the Tallapoosa for 8 miles. In Jan.1796 the flood rose 47 feet and spread itself for 3 miles on the left bank of the Alabama: and the ordinary width of that river, taken at the first bluff below the fork, is one hundred & fifty yards. This bluff is on the left side & 45 feet high. On this bluff are 5 conic mounds of earth, the largest 30 yards diameter at the base & 17 feet high. The others are smaller.

It has been for some time a subject of enquiry when & for what purpose these mounds were raised. Here, it explains itself as to the purpose. Unquestionably, they were intended as a place of safety for the people in the times of these floods, and this is the tradition among the old people. As these Indians came from the other side of the Mississippi & that river spreads out on that side for a great distance, it is probable the erection of mounds originated there, or from the custom of the Indians heretofore of settling on rich flats bordering on the rivers subject to be overflowed. The name E,cun,li,ge, mounds of earth, - is literally, earth placed. But why erect these mounds in high places incontestably out of the reach of floods? From a superstitious veneration for ancient customs.  The Alabama overflows its flat swampy